Before Google Reflection

It is rare that one is able to glimpse back and really see what the past was like. We have our memories, but memories fade. It is a beautiful thing when you are able to look at an image and be transported back in time and try to remember what your life used to be like in relation to that photograph. In this age, things are constantly changing and it is so incredibly easy to lose sight of what they were when they began. This is why for my Before Google Assignment, I looked at the original homepage for MySpace using the “Way Back Machine” that shows all the archived previous versions of any website you could imagine. Just like Facebook, MySpace became entirely different than what it was when it was created.

When I looked at the first Myspace homepage, my first thought was, “Wow this is old.” But I also noticed that MySpace was a website (much like Wix) that provided a way for people to build their own websites for their growing businesses. Websites like these were incredibly expensive because the internet was not as accessible as it is now. This is reflected in the extremely high prices that are displayed on the homepage. It is also crazy to think that this marketing idea was around since the dawn of the internet. This proves that people are always looking for a way to advance technology and increase their profit margins.

I don’t think this has changed my view on search engines, rather it has given me a larger appreciation for what the internet can do. In this age, nothing is ever lost, which is why archives are so special because they keep the past in the present.